Wildly In Bloom

Yesterday I made my way to the valley north of Mt. Hood and took on a hike that promised striking views of the mountain and wildflowers. Clouds hid the mountain, but the wildflowers did not disappoint.

If you hadn’t noticed by the angle of the ground in these pictures, the entire hike was uphill. For scale, look down at that valley below. My car was down there. I only made it about 2 miles up before deciding that it was time to head back down. Turns out this was a hike that going down was almost as hard as I slipped and scrabbled my way down loose shale and rocks.

I look the long way home and decided to take a peek at Trillium Lake. While the clouds were clearing, the peak of Mt. Hood was still hiding behind clouds.

The lake got its name for a reason…

I took one last detour on the way home and drove up to Timberline where skiers and snowboarders were getting in some final runs for the season. Mostly I took this picture for my friend Karen, who came to this very spot with me and saw nothing but clouds.